Was Syndrome Actually the Hero of ‘The Incredibles’?

At ScreenCrush, we’re huge fans of The Incredibles. On our new list ranking every Pixar film to date, it came in at number seven, only behind heavy hitters like Toy Story, Inside Out, and WALL-E. It’s an animation classic that we can return to time and again.

But maybe it’s because we have watched it so many times and thought about it so often, that we’ve started to question its narrative. The film is about a heroic family of “supers” who do battle with a villain named Syndrome (voiced by Jason Lee), who resents their powers and wishes that everyone in the world could be super. He wants to become famous using his incredible inventions and then share his creations with the world. And that ... kind of sounds like a noble goal? So why is he such a bad guy? In the video essay above, ScreenCrush’s Ryan Arey argues he’s not, and that maybe Syndrome was right all along and Mr. Incredible was the true bad guy of The Incredibles. See if you agree and tell us what you think in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this video essay about Syndrome and his tragic arc in The Incredibles, check out some more of our videos below, including our complete recap of the X-Men franchise, our video essay on Thor’s vision from Age of Ultron and how it actually came true in Infinity War, the use of water imagery in Stephen King’s It, and our comparison of Spider-Man 2 and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Plus, there’s tons more over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.